


Guardian Angel

by GuardianSoulBlade



Category: Teen Titans (Animated Series), Teen Titans - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Family Secrets, Married Couple, Slow Build, Temporary Amnesia, The Court of Owls - Freeform, Unintentional Cuckholding
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-01-07
Updated: 2018-11-15
Packaged: 2019-08-28 09:20:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,716
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16720638
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GuardianSoulBlade/pseuds/GuardianSoulBlade
Summary: Summary: He was once a Flying Angel, a Flying Grayson, a husband, and a father. Now he is running from the cabal that tried to turn him into a monster. Still, John Grayson clutches a memory. The memory of the only family he has left.





	1.  Bloodline

He stands atop a building. He gazes down at the teeming masses. He is invisible to their unconcerned eyes. He is searching for a target, and that is his only concern.

John Grayson remembers his old life, but it's like a pleasant dream. It feels like a lifetime ago. But he had a good life, now he was in a living Hell, but not of his own choosing.

For years he killed, in secret, the enemies of the Court of Owls, they had offered him an ultimatum, kill for them or they would take Mary and Dick to the Labyrinth, and he would be forced to kill them.

He agreed, and they did not fill him with their mysterious Electrum that could heal his body; that was part of the deal, he did not want his family to discover what he was doing.

He is certain that they are here, they are everywhere, their network is vast and the resources limitless.

John Grayson huddled under the Titans Bridge; no one would ever know this homeless man was both the world's greatest acrobat and a dead man. It was good to go unnoticed, especially since he had the attention of the Court of Owls.

He had tried to settle down in various cities while searching for his son Dick, he'd heard that Dick had left Gotham City, but wasn't sure of his whereabouts.

It's dark out, and he must leave the safety of the alleyway. He has business with the nicer side of town.

John stares out and searches still. He found them, a wealthy couple heading home. They were the ones he'd been searching for. He tailed them home.

He climbed up the side of the building and slipped in through the open window. The couple had gone to bed.

John slipped into their room and stood over their beds.

"Joseph and Maria Powers," they were an immensely powerful couple from Gotham City; they had a summer home in Jump, being very rich.

"So you finally come crawling back to us for mercy. We won't grant it, we'll break you, just like we did before, Grayson," Joseph smirked.

"I didn't come to beg for mercy, I'm warning you, if you expand your Court of Owls to Jump City, I will burn everything you cherish to the ground!"

"That's a bold threat, let's see you try it!"

They reached for weapons, only to look up and see that the former Talon had disappeared.

John leaped out onto the roof. He sprinted across the buildings, somersaulting over the gaps and clearing them easily. He enjoys parkour, but he knows he must put distance between himself and the Powers family. He took the mask off, enjoying the breeze on his face in the night air.

He wonders who they'll send after him, his grandfather William Cobb? No doubt, his ancestor will get a kick out of that, and he'll enjoy it too. Or maybe Alton Carver, his predecessor? He doesn't know, but he'd have to be ready and he needed weapons, and he'd heard a rumor about someone who had a lot of weapons.

John was about to leave when he spotted someone walking below him. He recognizes the boy's face, his son Richard. He let a smile cross his face.

Nightwing walked through the streets, not on patrol, just out and about, enjoying himself. Slade wasn't causing trouble, which surprised him; he half expected it from his arch nemesis.

Nightwing looked up and saw a figure in the distance; his first instinct is to go after the man on the roof. He blinks and does a double-take.

"Dad?" he asks no one in particular. He's seeing things, he's been thinking about his birth father lately, he'd had a stressful day fighting crime; he just needed to relax and not think about work.

He looks at the spot and there's no one there. It's his father's ghost; he always believed that his father watched over him from Heaven. That's what it was, nothing more. Besides, there was no one there.

He launched himself up to the roof to look around, it's empty, just as he thought, not even a heat signature.

John sighs, he should have stayed, but his son believes he is dead, it should remain this way. He was nothing more than a monster, a murderer, a puppet. He'd been devastated when Mary had discovered what he'd been doing for the Court of Owls.

_He was putting the Talon uniform away, hidden in the floor of the living room of the Flying Graysons trailer. He heard footsteps behind him. He turned and saw his wife staring at him._

_"John, is that a Talon uniform?" Mary asked._

_"Yes," he replied. She doesn't say a word. Why? He expects her to tell him that what he's doing is wrong, that he's an evil monster._

_"You went and begged for Dick's life, didn't you? When they chose him for the Court of Owls, to be their next Talon."_

_He can't bring himself to speak. John simply nodded._

_"Why didn't you tell me?"_

_"I didn't want you to know. You would see me as…"_

_"As what, John?" Mary knelt down beside him and put her hand on his shoulder._

_"A monster."_

_"Do you believe in their cause, that they can change this horrible city by killing people they think deserve it?"_

_"No."_

_"Do you enjoy killing those people?"_

_"No, I'm doing this because they've given me no other choice. They'll take you, and Dick, and they'll make me kill you…I can't live with that. I don't want to lose you both."_

_"You should have told me I—" Mary began._

_"Would have begged them to not do this? No Mary, they have too much power, and we can't just run away to another circus, they'd find us eventually."_

_"No, I would have gone in your place. The guilt is eating you alive."_

_"Mary, you couldn't handle what they do."_

_"Maybe I wouldn't, but I would have done it so you wouldn't have to." Mary pulled him into an embrace._

_"I love you, John, so much, and you're not a monster. If you were, you'd be spewing the Court's philosophical crap, boasting about all the people you've killed, acting like some self-important savior of Gotham City. Sometimes, you have to do bad things, but we always have a choice, destinies don't exist, you won't be under their thumb forever. You're a good husband and father, that's the man I see in front of me."_

_She cradled him in her arms, whispering comforting words to him. Words he needed to hear, so he could live with himself._

_"I hope so honey, I hope so."_

John stared at the tattered family photo of he, Mary and Dick, their son was young, sitting on a swing, smiling. He missed Mary so much, if she were here, she'd help him keep it together.

He made his way across Jump City.

He entered an empty warehouse. He could hear the churning of spinning gears.

"If you think you can just stroll in here and take something that's mine, you're mistaken!" Slade said with an edge in his voice. It was unusual for anyone to irritate him, but Slade sensed there was something different about this one, and familiar.

John struck the one-eyed mercenary. Slade managed to avoid the blow. He had to keep his eye on this one. No pun intended either.

Slade noted his attacker fought with throwing knives, held in a reverse grip. That was interesting.

John knew this wasn't going to be easy. He knew very little about Slade. Just that his son fought him often and that the Court of Owls was keeping an eye on him.

Slade tackled the would-be assassin, he didn't know his real name and it didn't matter, but he'd heard of them. They were called Talons, fabled assassins of a shadowy cabal.

Slade took out his energy stick and swung it at his attacker. John avoided the blow and stabbed Slade through his hand, just above the wrist.

John hit him in the face, following it up by bringing his knee up and slamming it into the villain's mask.

He kicked the man back as he unleashed a dozen throwing knives in Slade's direction, three landed, two in his shoulders, one in his chest.

"Not bad, Talon, not bad at all!"

John didn't say anything, if he was going after someone this dangerous, he might as well frame his former masters for the attack.

Slade ripped the knives out and followed up with a vicious series of kicks, John barely managed to block them. He ducked and avoided a swing of Slade's clenched fist and executed a kick just as he stabbed Slade's other arm.

"C'mon Slade, impress me!" John taunted.

Slade let out an enraged roar as he rushed forward, tackling the Talon, knocking him out of the window; he tried to strangle John as they plummeted to the street below.

John ripped Slade's sword out of his sheath and stabbed him in the shoulder. Slade kicked him away as they both hit the ground.

"You're going to wish you hadn't done that!" Slade snarled.

"I only wish I'd done it sooner!" John retorted. "Broken bones for someone who can regenerate. I said—Impress me."

Slade was angry now, he rushed at his attacker with a fury that John took advantage of.

He slammed his fist into Slade's gut, headbutting him in the face as the mercenary lurched forward. He executed a backflip, kicking Slade back into the wall.

He ran forward, punching and kicking Slade as the man struggled to get up, John pinned Slade to the wall with more of his throwing knives.

"It's too bad that I had to steal your weapons, but you're not the type of guy to just give people things."

"If you wanted a business transaction, I would have been accommodating, but to just up and take things, that isn't so noble. Two wrongs don't make a—"

"Don't ever lecture me! The last thing I need is a moral chastising from someone like you!"

"You remind me of someone I know. That's interesting," Slade laughed.

John took Slade's sword, his energy staff and his thermal blaster. He wondered how he'd gotten another, John didn't care as long as it could do the job.

He walked away as Slade stood to his feet.

"Who do you think you are to walk out on me?! We're not done!" Slade snarled.

"Someone who doesn't care who you are!" John retorted. Now he just had to bait the trap.

_"Beware the Court of Owls, that watches all the time, ruling Gotham from a shadowed perch, behind granite and lime. They watch you at your hearth, they watch you in your bed, speak not a whispered word of them, or they'll send the Talon for your head."_

Slade saw the man vanish and he slammed his fist into the ground in frustration. "The Court of Owls, huh? I'll kill all of them, after all, the Titans are bad enough, I don't need any more competition."

John heard him and smiled. He took the bait. Good. The Talons were dead anyway, Slade would just make sure they stayed dead.

* * *

Starfire was on her way home, bringing back groceries. She saw a pair of homeless men talking to an older man who arrived with enough food to feed all of them.

"Let's celebrate with a song, boys!" one of them shouted. "Hey John, sing us that one, the one about Superman."

"Okay, if you insist," John cleared his throat. One of the men began to play the guitar.

"She's watching the taxi driver, he pulls away. She's been locked up in her apartment a hundred days."

Starfire recognized the song by a popular music artist. She enjoyed songs about superheroes, even if they weren't about her.

"She says, "Yeah, he's still coming, just a little bit late. He got stuck at the Laundromat washing his cape."

Starfire could hear the strum of a guitar and the man clapped his hands.

"She's just watching the clouds roll by and they spell her name, like Lois Lane. And she smiles, oh the way she smiles."

The homeless men smiled, "C'mon man, belt it out for us!"

Starfire saw the peaceful and happy expression as the man begins to sing.

"She's talking to angels, counting the stars, making a wish on a passing car, she's dancing with strangers, falling apart, waiting for Superman to pick her up. In his arms yeah, in his arms yeah, waiting for Superman."

They continue to sing and Starfire claps her hands to the music.

Starfire smiled at them and pulled out $15 in $5 bills, she handed it to them.

"Thank you, sweetheart," John smiled.

"You are welcome!" she replied. She took to the sky, carrying her groceries.

"Who is she?" John inquired.

"She's Starfire, one of the Teen Titans, she's Nightwing's girlfriend," the man replied.

"How do you know?"

"It's all the tabloids talk about," the man replied.

"She certainly is pretty, he has good taste," John laughed. "Just like his father, I'll bet."

She landed on the roof of Titans Tower. Nightwing was waiting for her.

"Rich'ard, how are you?" she asked.

"I'm fine, but I did see something strange today," he smiled at her, kissing her lips.

"What was it?" Starfire was curious.

"I thought I saw my father, but it was a ghost, that's all."

"Why did you think you saw him?" Starfire knew her boyfriend had once seen Slade when he was not there, she was worried it might be a chemical reagent.

"I've had him on my mind lately, that's all," Nightwing shrugged his shoulders. "It was probably just me. Care to come in? Gar wants to start a movie."

"Of course!" she replied, he led her inside. He put all thoughts of his father out of his head. He had more to worry about than his father's ghost.


	2. Thief and Leper

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> John makes his next move against the Court of Owls, even as they reveal another puppet in their plan to take over Jump City. Nighwing is slowly being drawn into the mystery.

 

 

John Grayson smiled to himself, his plan was a success, Slade had fallen for his red herring. There was no time to celebrate, he had to take down the Court of Owls, and he knew exactly how. Money, it powered everything in their organization. They depended on money to pave the way for their influence to grow and thrive.

He left the warehouse and Slade, scouring the city for Powers Industries. He knew that he could find their dummy accounts that linked them to the Court of Owls, and he had to find that money and destroy it.

John smiled to himself; the Grayson family was not a paragon of virtue. Both sides of the family had their secrets. John's was he came from a line of assassins, Mary's was her past as a thief, her hatred of rich people and all the crimes she'd committed in Paris as a teenager.

Still, the past did not define who they were or what they would be. That was part of how they continually moved forward.

He activated his comm., "Casey, I'm ready. Is everyone else?"

"John, you're our only way in," Casey Washington warned him. "I've got the others covering your activities by staging a bank robbery. Unfortunately, that means we'll have to deal with the Titans."

"What about Calvin Rose?" John asked.

"He'll keep them busy while you get me into their bank accounts."

"You ready to do this?" Casey Washington asked him.

"Steal the Court's money? Anything to slow them down," John replied.

He left for the nearest bank; he had to meet up with Casey and the others.

Nightwing was enjoying the movie with his friends, life was nice and quiet for once.

That didn't last long, however, right as the credits rolled the alarm went off, showing them a bank robbery downtown.

The group took the car and arrived at the bank and saw a man waiting for them out front. He was dressed like an owl.

"Who are you?" Nightwing demanded.

He didn't say anything, Calvin Rose might have not been close friends with Dick Grayson at Haly's Circus but there was always the risk of being recognized by his voice.

Calvin Rose rushed forward, punching and kicking at Dick with a quick series of strikes that the Aerial Avenger easily blocked.

The fight began to escalate as Calvin slammed his elbow into Nightwing's face. Nightwing somersaulted backward to regain his senses.

Nightiwing kicked his attacker in the gut, sending him staggering and just as he was about to move in to take him out, he saw the flash of gunfire. Nightwing managed to avoid it as Raven raised up a barrier to deflect more incoming fire.

Beast Boy charged forward, transforming into a T-Rex, he charged forward, the mysterious owl figure backed away from him.

Nightwing threw his escrima stick and hit his opponent in the face.

Calvin Rose spoke into his comm., "Did you get it?"

"Yes, John's got me into the mainframe system; I'll be done in less than a minute."

"Good," he replied. He began to retreat, throwing down a smoke bomb.

Nightwing charged after him, so did the other Titans, Calvin Rose led them on a spectacular chase throughout the city. He'd done his job perfectly, John was on his way back to Casey Washington, their mission had been a success, the Court had been drained of most of their funds in Jump City.

John wished he could sneak into one of their meetings; it'd be a joy to hear their terrified voices when they realized they'd lost their precious money. Unfortunately, he'd have to settle for a small celebration with the misfits he'd met, people who battled the mythical cabal of the Court of Owls.

* * *

Samantha Vanaver adjusted the mask concealing her face, but for some unknown reason, it made her feel uncomfortable, being around the members of the Court.

"Miss Vanaver, Grandmaster…" the masked man spoke to her, "Begin the meeting!"

Samantha Vanaver sighed, "We're here to discuss the rouge Talon that emptied the funds we had in Jump City, we'll have to send someone to deal with him."

"From the footage we saw, it looked like Calvin Rose," Sebastian Clark told her.

"He's not the one who stole the money; he was the decoy, who of our Talons is missing?"

"John Frederic Grayson, Grandmaster, he's a poor substitute for his son, Richard Grayson, he should have been the next one."

Hearing those names made her feel uneasy; it was nothing, just her imagination.

"And what about our money? How are we supposed to grease the palms of politicians without it?"

"We have plenty of money to spare, put yourselves at ease, ladies and gentlemen," John Wycliff reassured them.

"And what about Deathstroke? Someone's turned him onto us! He was seen snooping around Securitus Industries, our recent acquisition!"

"We'll deal with him soon enough, just like the Titans, the H.I.V.E. and everyone else in this city."

"And just who are we to send after John Grayson?" the other members asked.

"Let me hunt him," Samantha Vanaver offered. "It will ease my boredom. It's been far too long since I had a real challenge."

"As you wish, Grandmaster," Sebastian Clark bowed to her.

Samantha Vanaver adjourned the meeting and left, sighing in disgust, but she couldn't explain why she was disgusted, it was just a natural feeling that came over her when she attended the Court's meetings.

She utterly loathed all of them, but could not explain why. She began walking back to her mansion.

"Marie," a voice called to her. She stopped, and turned, but why? That wasn't her name.

She turned and saw a Romani man staring at her, she noticed his hands and realized that at one time, he had leprosy. Still, she stood there unafraid of him, but what did he want with her?

"Marie, you don't remember me do you?" he asked.

"Should I? You've mistaken me for someone else," Samantha Vanaver told him.

"You are Marie Lloyd, you and I were friends, you were the only person who wasn't afraid of me. You helped steal the medicine that I needed for my leprosy, you were the only person who ever cared about me at all."

"You're mistaken, that's not who I am," she told him flatly.

"You didn't trust authority, you hated the rich people who made empty promises and didn't deliver. You stole from people who owed us what we deserved!"

He shook his fist at her, "You didn't live with a silver spoon in your mouth, you always looked out for the downtrodden people, people like me!"

Samantha Vanaver turned and walked away, but she didn't protest against what he claimed she was, still his voice was familiar.

"You never forgot about me Marie, you named your son after me, you named him Richard because of me!" Richard called to her again.

She shook her head; Samantha Vanaver had a lover, but no children. She didn't need children; the Court of Owls was the most important thing in her life.

She walked away, letting Richard's voice fade away.

Richard scowled, she'd remember soon enough. The Court's brainwashing could be broken. Marie's hatred of the corrupt rich was in her very being. It couldn't be changed with mere brainwashing.

Samantha Vanaver entered her mansion and shut the door locking it. She glanced up at the figure waiting for her, Alton Carver, the Talon.

He moved to embrace her, he smiled. "Is everything all right?"

"Yes," she lied to him. She didn't want to think about Richard and the strange conversation they had.

He kissed her, pulling her to her room to her bed.

"Alton…"

"Shh…You need this, we both do," he kissed her again, "You are the Grandmaster…you can have whatever you want."

He pressed her into the bed and began to remove her clothes. She wasn't thinking about anything else, except this moment, and that was what he wanted right now.

* * *

Alton Carver scowled at the sleeping figure of "Samantha Vanaver". He glanced up as the real Grandmaster of the Court of Owls, John Wycliff entered the room.

"You enjoyed yourself, Alton," he sneered.

"She's good in bed, why else does she have a child?" Alton spat. "Her child, my successor. Is that why you made me her lover in this charade, to spite me?"

Alton Carver smirked. "Perhaps you should have played the part of lover; you share her husband's name after all."

"I'm too old for that, you know," John laughed. "Why would I risk her remembering her suppressed memories?"

"You should go, you have work to do," John told the Talon. The man bowed and left.

"John, it's dangerous, letting her go after her own husband, what if she regains her memories?" Sebastian Clark asked the Grandmaster.

"With how we broke her mentally and physically, there's no way she'd ever be the person she was before she died. It'd be impossible for Mary Lloyd Grayson to return from the dead."

"Her family has always been stubborn, she's a Lloyd after all, a family of thieves, thieves never change."

John Waycliff glanced at her.

"Such a pity the real Samantha Vanaver is dead, but you'll do as her replacement, won't you, Marie Lloyd Grayson, or is it Mary since you changed your name? The so-called "Skydancer" who stole from the rich in Paris. It's an ironic prison we've put you in, surrounding you with people you hate."

John Wiclyff smiled to himself, "We can't have you getting in the way, not with your husband as a loose cannon. As for your leper friend Richard, we'll deal with him soon enough."

The Grandmaster of the Court of Owls turned and left, she'd be a suitable puppet for the Court, and once she was completely under their control, she'd bring him the greatest prize of all, her son, the perfect Talon.

* * *

Samantha Vanaver awoke from her heavy sleep hearing a window open, she glanced over at her side, Alton Carver was gone, but she could see a smaller figure approach her safe. He was as stealthy and quiet as she's seen in awhile.

She slipped into her clothes and silently moved to observe the figure in black.

She watched the figure approach the safe and use something on the utility belt he was wearing to open it. It was some chemical compound called Xenothium.

_How interesting, a wannabe thief._

She watched him open the safe, he was so intent on emptying the safe that he didn't notice when she'd undone the belt and taken it from him.

Samantha Vanaver was amused,  _Amateurs._  Stealing things for her was like breathing, was this Richard really telling her the truth about who she was? If he was how was she going to find him, and what was she going to do about the Court?

"Sticking it to this rich bitch does make me feel good."

"If you're going to steal from someone while they're sleeping, Mister X, you shouldn't talk to yourself out loud."

A light switched on.

"Huh?" Red X moved to activate his weapons only to look down and find his utility belt missing!

"You're that notorious thief, Red X, isn't that right?" Samantha asked him, curious.

"You're good, lady, but what are you going to do? Call the police?" Red X asked.

"I have a proposal for you Mister X, why don't you come and work for me?"

"Why should I take this generous offer?" he asked, this wasn't what he'd expected at all, he expected screaming, crying for help and insistence that he not take her precious jewelry.

A partnership was a surprise, but what was in it for him?

"I have a lot of rich associates that I don't particularly like, I can give you information on them, and you can help yourself to their things. In exchange I want you to find out what they did to me, I have heard them say something about my memories. If they did tamper with them, I want to know why."

"And the cut? What's my take?" Red X asked.

"90/10, my cut is the information you'll be giving me about what's going on. Does that suit you?"

She held out her hand to him. Red X pondered this for a moment; she was offering him a "job". Hey, why not?

He shook her hand. "You got a deal, what do I call you?"

"Samantha Vanaver, but if anyone asks, say you work for Skydancer."

"I like it, sounds flamboyant," Red X laughed. "Who's my first target?"

"Joseph and Maria Powers, they're a bunch of hypocritical rich people, they have a vacation house in the city. Help yourself to whatever you want."

'And what sort of info do you want?" Red X asked.

"Any financial assets they have, and anything about Samantha Vanaver," she replied.

"Why would you want info on yourself?" Red X cocked his head, curious.

"If they're playing me, I want to know why," she smiled at him. "You bring me what I need to know and you'll have enough cash to buy plenty of Xenothium from Professor Chang."

"How do you know about him?" Red X asked.

"I know everything about this city," Samantha replied.

Samantha tossed Red X his utility belt. "Meet me at the docks tomorrow night for my cut."

"Nice doing business with you, Miss Vanaver," Red X grinned under his mask.

Tonight had been an unexpected surprise, he'd been wanting to steal from a rich, stuck-up snob, instead, he'd found a master thief and had a job of all things! This woman made him very lucky, and now he had more things to grab. He could hardly wait or his next "assignment".

Samantha Vanaver watched him leave, all the things that nagged at her remained in the back of her mind, and then she'd have to sleep again, she hated sleeping, because she'd have that dream again, she was falling, and the only thing she saw was the agonized face of a little boy, and his face ripped her heart to shreds, but she couldn't remember his name or anything about him. She hated many things in her life, but she hated that dream most of all.


End file.
